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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24069412">Thanks</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hadrian_Pendragons/pseuds/Hadrian_Pendragons'>Hadrian_Pendragons</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Akira Thinks Too Much, Akira has a crush, Drabble, I’m in the process of watching royal, M/M, Ryuji Worries, Texting, because i can’t play it, they’re all good kids and i love them</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:47:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24069412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hadrian_Pendragons/pseuds/Hadrian_Pendragons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Who knew fighting a cognitive version of your PE teacher, making him confess his sins, and realizing you are talking to a cat could keep you up at night?</p><p>Or</p><p>After Kamoshida’s palace, Akira overthinks everything.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Thanks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I blame Suzu who dragged me into this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Akira blinks. The words jumble up together. He rereads the same paragraph five more times and still doesn’t know what it says. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ann and Ryuji had gotten their revenge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kamoshida had his change of heart. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kamoshida would confess tomorrow, and then he would be gone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Shiho was still in the hospital.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ann had still nearly lost a friend.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ryuji still couldn’t run.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ryuji had </span>
  <em>
    <span>fallen</span>
  </em>
  <span> during their escape. Akira flips the page even though he doesn’t know what was on them, simply looking for new words to distract himself with. Ryuji had fallen, clutching at his leg like it </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt—</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Akira’s heart had stopped. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The ceiling had come crashing down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ryuji had forced himself up and they all had to keep running.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We all made it out.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Everything will be fine.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Someone was in the hospital.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ryuji almost hadn’t made it.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And from there, his mind spirals. To what could have gone wrong, if they’d waited. Expulsion. Then he thinks about Kamoshida’s cognitive slaves and what if Ryuji and Ann </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> ended up that man’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>subjects?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ryuji had been, once upon a time.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He closes the book. It snaps in the silence of </span>
  <em>
    <span>LeBlanc</span>
  </em>
  <span>. No one else is there. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You done reading?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No. Morgana is there. Sitting on the counter and watching him and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>really is</span>
  </em>
  <span> talking to a cat, isn’t he?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Lets go to bed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You should rest,” Morgana stands and stretches like a cat would. “You all worked hard today.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Morgana falls asleep on his chest. He stares at the ceiling and tries to let the growing-familiar weight calm his nerves. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He thinks he might miss it when Morgana... got his body back? Stopped being a cat? He still wasn’t sure what that was about. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His phone vibrates. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’Hey, man.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’Sorry to bug you this late. You up?’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’Ah... guess you can’t answer that if you’re asleep.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’Don’t worry about it, I’ll just shut up now.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stares at it, at the little icon with Ryuji’s face, staring at the camera, dark eyes playful and blond hair wild and face flushed like he’d just gotten back from a run. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘I’m awake. You good?’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’Oh, burning the midnight oil, eh?’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Akira’s thumbs hesitate over the keypad. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘Can’t sleep. ‘</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He waits again. Ryuji doesn’t say anything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘Still thinking about-‘</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘Everything.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’Yeah. Me too.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’We should get some sleep, man. Whatever happens tomorrow, we’ll handle it. Phantom Thieves stick together, right?’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’You’re’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’A great friend.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’We couldn’t have done this without you.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something feels warm in his chest. His eyes feel wet. Akira takes a breath and hopes Morgana is a heavy sleeper. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘I lov—‘</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He freezes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hits the backspace button. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shoves that to the back of his mind to deal with *later.*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘Thanks, Ryuji. You’re a good person.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ryuji Sakamoto was too good for all the bullshit that had happened to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>’You are too, man. Damn, I think it’s all catching up to me. See you tomorrow?’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Where else would I go?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘Yeah. See you.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He waits. There aren’t any more replies. So he sets his phone aside and closes his eyes and—</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Thanks, Ryuji.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first friend he made here just </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be the one he fell for, huh?</span>
</p>
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